The present invention relates generally to plasma cutting systems, and, more particularly, to a system for managing the cables of a plasma cutter.
Plasma cutting is a process in which an electric arc is used for cutting or gouging a workpiece. The plasma cutter is generally contained within a housing and provides output power to a pair of cables that extend from the plasma cutter apparatus. One of the cables has a torch that is located at the outer end of the cable and the other cable has a work clamp at its outer end that is adapted to be attached to the workpiece.
The plasma cutter apparatus is designed to be a portable unit. That is, the plasma cutter can be carried by a person from location to location. With such portability, however, there is a problem with management of the cables since they are not easy to carry along with the plasma cutter housing and can be unwieldy to handle. As such, the user must carry the cables in hand where the cables can inadvertently drag on the ground or otherwise make the carrying of the plasma cutter quite difficult. Not only is the problem concerned with the facility to carry the plasma cutter, but a cable hanging downwardly from its connection to the plasma cutter can create undue stress on the strain relief mechanism at that connection and a dragging or loose cable can more likely snag on some object and damage that connection or the cable.
The problem is exacerbated with the level of portability and as technology decreases the size of the plasma cutter, the cables become a greater percentage of the volume and weight of the plasma cutter and thus the management and handling of the cables becomes a more important aspect to consider.
According it would advantageous to have a cable management system that would overcome the aforedescribed problems by securing the cable to the housing of the plasma cutter to facilitate the hand transporting of the plasma cutter.